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Drums of War
Rellik Arena - Darkreach - Cybertron Underground Someone really creative named the place, but didn't know that the mech he put in charge of making the sign was dyslexic. Slapped together bleachers surround a horrible looking cage which has been built over a smoking smelting pit. Two bridges quarter the pit. It's all quite lovely and your travel agent must hate you. <'Decepticon'> Hun-Grrr says, "Tonight, the nightmares of the deep gather to celebrate the inevitable fall of those fool Autobots in Markon! There will be combat, feasting, and death! And THEN a war!" <'Decepticon'> Scorn says, "Ohoho, now this sounds like my kind of party." <'Decepticon'> Buzzsaw says, "Well, this should be mildly entertaining, at least. Though, it does sound vaguely unrefined." Darkreach: Home to the monsters, to the primatives. The savage, animalistic, and ruthless: where only the strong survive by law. And at the center of Darkreach, Rellik Arena- it's cultural center. By culture, we mean 'place where stuff gets killed a lot.' And tonight, business has PICKED UP! The place is packed with Decepticons, both the Underground beasts of Darkreach and Decepticons from the world above. The reason for the season? War. War on Markon, the city's much hated Autobot aligned neighbors. Drums are pounding. Unicronshine (Cybertron moonshine) is flowing like water. Dancing. Fighting. It's a party. Buzzsaw is here. It's one of those traits that he just possesses. The ability to show up where you want him to be (or don't want him to be). In all honesty, it's amazing that Soundwave did not name him Visacard. But...that is probably for the better anyway. The Condor watches the fights, motionless as his optics glimmer faintly. It is uncouth, unrefined, uncivilized, and he's been mistaken as a statue once already and had some sort of drink spilled on him... but that is the price one pays when they are trying to ascertain the nature of unrest in various areas of Cybertron itself. So... This is war. Hmm. The big question for Buzzsaw, though, revolves strictly around one thing: How does one capitalize on this? While Buzzsaw is off on his own, Soundwave and Laserbeak stand off to the side, in one of the higher balconies. It wouldn't be easy to call it a 'nicer' spot to view, but certainly one a bit better. Soundwave, naturally, is here to watch everyone else, BUT the fighting. All the raucous cheering and clashing of metal on metal actually makes the Tape Commander disoriented, enough so that he's had to turn off half of his auditory devices, relying instead on his tapes to do his investigating. Quietly, he puts his hands on the balcony's edge, leaning over the teeming masses, and filters through conversations, looking for those little slipups that end a life. Until then however...well, he's also down here because Galvatron is up there and Soundwave is in the Canineicon house. Just one NYARGH away from the ole scrapheap. It's tough to be Con Intel... It's vicious in in the arena. It's merciless oilsport of the highest degree (and lowest taste), winner leaves with his life and losers leave in bodybags. If there's enough left to fill one. And into the middle of that someone suddenly throws a shotgun into the arena! Watch the gladiators scramble, brutalizing opponents twice as hard to try to get to the weapon even if it is old, rusted and probably only good for a few shots. It's still a precious edge that could save someone's life, if they don't get killed in cold energon by someone else wanting it more. A few audience members turn to start at where the gun was thrown from. But ever the slick operator he was Swindle just sat back with a shrug. "What? This is an entertaining way to get rid of weapons too old and useless for anyone to buy." Did someone say monsters? Savages? Animalistic brutes? Why, what a perfect place to find Scorn, especially since there seems to be a party going on! Insecticons litter the crowd and partake in the festivities, some even showing their mettle in the arena. But Scorn? She's far too busy indulging herself in the arena's betting system, waving shanix on the sidelines in favor of one of the current fighters while surrounded by some less than classy company. But does she mind? Far from it, instead eating up the attention and grinning as she snags a mug of that unicronshine from one. "A hundred shanix on that one!" She calls casually to the bookie nearby, a hand gesturing to one of the mechs scrambling for the gun. Two Headed Razor Drake roars a greeting up at Soundwave, tromping through the crowd in his alt mode. In fact, most of the Darkreach natives seem to prefer their alts. Flanked by his Terrorcon soldiers, Darkreach natives welcome him like a conquering hero: "Hun-Grrr!" "The Warchief!" The Drake glares down at Blott. "Blott...you stink." Blott gurgles with delight. "Blott thanks the Warchief!" The Terrorcon commander pauses by Buzzsaw. "Ah, the most civilized of Soundwave's creatures joins us. I hope you find things elegant enough for your enjoyment!" His second head laughs, finding this hysterical. A cheer goes up around the Cage as a massive upright bull looking creature enters. "MATAGORE! MATAGORE!" The chant begins. The bull raises his arms, playing to the crowd. "Si, it is I! Now...who will challenge MATAGORE?!" From somewhere unlocatable, everybody hears a Spanish Guitar in the background... Buzzsaw turns to regard Hun-Grrr for a moment. "Enjoyment is secondary when placed alongside practicality." He returns his attention to the arena as the mad-grab for the shotgun takes place. "The true intent of these games is not lost on me, which is why I tolerate the crude nature surrounding them. I thoroughly expect the winner of this shall be available for reutilization in the field?" <'Decepticon'> Dead End says, "Eh, not like I had anything better to do. Where are ya?" <'Decepticon'> Scorn says, "Over in Darkreach, dear. These beastcons certainly know how to throw a party, that's for sure~." <'Decepticon'> Dead End says, "Yeah, figure I may as well check it out. Earth is so dull." "MURDERIZE HIM! PUNCH HIS FACE SO HE WON'T CRAP HIS OPTICS OUT HIS EXHAUST UNTIL A WEEK LATER!" Swindle just sighs and rolls his optics as Brawl gets a little too into it, but he needed someone at hand for heavy lifting should he make any good sales to these Primitive warmongers. In order to keep a handle on things Swindle shoves another large mug of unicronshine into the mech's hands. "Here, keep drinking and enjoying yourself Brawl ol' friend, but remember, no fighting until the actual conquering starts. Okay?" Brawl looks at the mug, down at the fight as someone finally picks up the shotgun and uses it like a club instead because he's in some horrific creature mode, then at the mug again. "..." You can almost hear the gears grinding in his head trying to think. "I WANT A NEW COLORING BOOK TOO." Swindle just chuckles as he pats the other Combaticon on the shoulder. "I'll get you one from the souviner stand." And with that matter taken care of, Swindle wanders into the crowd to see what some of teh other Decepticons are doing milling about. Soundwave meets Hun-Grrr's gaze with a level stare of his own. He'd frown if he could, but having a good poker face sometimes can be TOO good. Soundwave gestures forward, sending Laserbeak into the air, the lens headed sneak taking off to the other side of the Arena. Soundwave takes flight, from his vantage point, then lands near Hun-Grrr and Buzzsaw. "HUN-GRRR. YOUR EFFORTS ARE WASTED HERE, WHEN INSTEAD YOU COULD BE AVENGING THE AUTOBOT TREACHERY DEALT LAST SWEEP." So there's his game, sic Abominus on the Bots to appease Galvatron. "THERE IS NOTHING HERE TO BE GAINED HERE THAT CANNOT BE GAINED TENFOLD ON THE SURFACE OR THE SKIES OF CYBERTRON." <'Decepticon'> Soundwave has encrypted this channel. Dead End pulls into view, wrecklessly zig-zagging towards the arena like some sort of lunatic! He skids up near Swindle, spraying bits of dirt and debris carelessly about the area. As he comes to a halt, the Stunticon launches upwards, transforming midair and landing in robot form. Surveying the scene, he grunts in a rather monotone, unimpressed voice, "So, what's all this about?" Scorn downs the last of her unicronshine and passes the mug off to some reptilian-looking mech and waves off her posse when standing. Time for a change of scenery, and Swindle and Dead End will do just nicely. With a snap her wings unfurl and she flits across the arena to land in the seat directly beside the Combaticon, a wicked grin on her face when leaning in to loop an arm around him. "Well well, if it isn't one of my favorite Combaticons." Blast Off who? Dead End also gets a friendly flash of teeth and a little flutter of fingers in a wave. "Why, it's a party, of course! Not the most refined, mind, but certainly enjoyable." On a high rise at the front of the arena, the infamous, murderous femme known as BURNER takes the stage, even as Matagore begins pulling his opponents apart by the dozen. (Here she is: http://static1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20131021225734/transformers2005/images/9/9c/Burner.jpg) Hun-Grr glares down at Soundwave as even as Burner sends a massive bolt of flame at the cage. "Matagore!" She poses dramatically. It could be noted that she's one of the few locals in their robot mode. "Stop wasting your time with me and challenge your Warboss!" "Burn him, Burner!" a fan shouts. "For the Warboss!" roars another. "Warboss Burner is the strongest there is!" Someone cries out, followed by a timid "Except Warchief Hun-grrr I mean!" Hun-grr takes no notice of the commotion Burner is causing. "Avenging Autobot treachery, Soundwave? Or correcting your failures? You and your weak framed audiophiles have ruled at Warlord Galvatron's table for too long. Soon, Hun-Grr will march on Markon for the glory of the Empire! Their riches will be our riches, and I will claim many trophies! Galvatron will be most pleased, and the Terrorcons will be greater than you, greater than Scrapper's ilk." Buzzsaw turns to glare coldly at Hun-Grrr. "Is that so? I shall be pleasantly surprised if such things come to pass." He flies up to perch himself on Soundwave's shoulder as a proper condor should. "The only one who shall claim trophies is Lord Galvatron." Swindle takes a nonchalant step back as the Stunticon speeds up, letting someone else take the shower of grit. Whom, being drunk already, immeadiately assumes it was the mech next to him throwing dirt and turns around to claw him. A small fight breaks out, tumbling away in one of those 'ball'o'violences' as Swindle steps back up, watching it go for a bit. "Definately one of the wilder parties I've seen. Considering most of the populance -is- mechanimals, no surprise." turns his attention back to the other two Decepticons. "Hello Dead End." A proper nod of the head to the insectifemme. "And to you as well Scorn. You look as if you've been enjoying yourself, at least." Soundwave counters Hun-Grrr, having been drawn into more posturing and snark "AND WHEN ABOMINUS PRESENTS HIS TROPHIES TO LORD GALVATRON, HAVING BEEN COACHED HOW TO WALK PROPERLY OVER THE COURSE OF A MILLENIA, OUR EMPEROR WILL BE PLEASED. BUT KNOW THIS, WE ARE ALL WEAPONS HONED FOR LORD GALVATRON'S WILL." He takes a moment, before adding, "AND SOME OF US ARE JUST TOOLS. Dead End frowns, crossing his arms over his chest and shaking his head, "It's not enough that we're all doomed to rust, we're here trashing each other mindlessly? To what end? It's bad enough we have actual enemies to war with, this place needs to manufacture more?" He looks around, then gestures, "Heck, who ARE all these guys? Cons? Bots? Mindless automatons?" he tries to determine the identity of a shredded metal husk at one end of the arena and, having failed, sighs, "What's the point?" Matagore roars at Burner, who responds by roasting him from her perch. "Challenge accepted!" The cheers, with a thunderous chant picking up: "WARBOSS! WARBOSS! WARBOSS!" She soaks up the cheers before raising her hands. "Decepticons! Nightmares of Darkreach! While we wear the same badge, it is rare our cousins from above visit our glorious home! Make them feel welcome!" A rousing cheer goes up. It sounds terrifying. "And now, listen to Burner- your Warboss! Named Strongest There Is while the Warchief Hun-grrr hunts for Galvatron, whom we chose to name Warlord!" More roaring and nightmarish shrieking, which is apprently strong agreement. "Soon we will gather again as a One Tribe, and we will make the filfth of Markon tremble! Who will march with our Warlord to eat the steel of our enemies?! The Autobots of Markon are weak! Content to decorate their sad frames with baubles and jewels! We will decorate our claws with their sparks!" Some well timed fire, and the crowd goes wild. Hun-Grrr growls softly at Soundwave, though despite his posturing, the truth clearly stings. "Perhaps..." He growls after a moment. "But things change. Enjoy the celebration." He tromps away, the Terrorcons all giving Soundwave and Buzzsaw death eyes as they pass. Combat: Soundwave compares his Courage to Two Headed Razor Drake 's Strength: Failure :( Combat: Buzzsaw compares his Courage to Two Headed Razor Drake 's Courage: Failure :( Your Death-Eyes are not very effective. Buzzsaw returns them with a cold, emotionless, level gaze, though any retorts go unspoken as he looks back at the fight starting to take place in the arena below. He's on their territory. Any overt acts of derision might not end too well, even with Soundwave right nearby. "Oh yes, definitely." Scorn grins sidelong at Swindle, though it lessens some at Dead End's dour mood. Oh right, he was that sort. Honestly, the high shine threw her off. "To be fair, if the end trully were nigh and we're 'doomed to rust', as you say, right not get as much out of this life as possible, hmm?" Optics flick off back to the arena, but Scorn pauses when she eyes some bodies being drug out. Tongue snakes out to slip swiftly over her lips in a hungry manner and she smirks. "Would you mechs excuse me?" And with that she's off to eat. Swindle folds his hands behind his back idly. Though glances out of the corner of his optics to make sure Brawl is still just sitting and watching before turning his attention back to his current conversation companions. "This is how the denziens of Darkreach weed out the weak and frail from their ranks, so only the strongest and most brutal take to the field in the upcoming seige. Survival of the fittest, strong rule the weak, so on and so on." He pauses as a mech passes by, handing him a datapad. "Hehehe, excellent. Majority of betting was on Madagore becoming Warboss, this upset by Burner rakes in major profit for me." Buzzsaw flies to a perch well out of the way (and reach of spilt drinks and spit) to settle down and resume watching the fight going on below. All the while recording. Soundwave exchanges a brief glance with Buzzsaw, then lets Hun-Grrr get his last word in. Abominus was powerful but stupid, Hun-Grrr...was brutal yet cunning. Or possibly cunning yet brutal. It would do the Tape Commander no good to press the issue here. As always, recon was needed, intelligence. If Markon was such a treasure trove and so easily taken, why hadn't it happened long ago?